DFW Sees 50% Increase in Home Sellers Compared to Last Year: Market Update

Let’s get down to the essentials for this month’s residential real estate market update for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I want to get you up to speed on what’s going on so you know what to anticipate as we head into the 2024 buying and selling season.

If you didn’t know, the buying and selling season is typically from April through August. That’s the prime time everyone is looking to make a move, especially families with children in school.

So, let’s dig in here…

DFW Home Prices and Housing Market Activity

Home prices have flattened out year-over-year through February. We saw transactions pick up in January, but they once again became stagnant in February. In some areas, you’re seeing spikes though.

In fact, there has been a notable spike in transactions in Rockwall County lately. But overall, for the region as a whole, transactions and the number of homes bought and sold are about flat.

The number of transactions and contracts being executed in the real estate market starting decelerating as we neared the close of February, resulting in a much slower pace of activity. Why?

Well, what we saw in January was an uptick in transactions and people moving because interest rates fell below 7%. A rather large amount below 7%, at around 6.5 to 6.75%. That’s where we saw a pretty decent surge of activity and then the brakes went on in February as interest rates inched back up toward 7%.

That being said, contracts and pending sales are also down headed into March, judging from the latest market stats out by the North Texas Real Estate Information System.

We all experienced it here personally as a real estate firm as well.

New Home Listings Spike Across DFW

What is interesting, however, and what I’m excited about for buyers and sellers is that I have seen the first big market shift in number of new listings.

That’s been our issue.

This is why the market has been kind of on hold and in a stall. Nobody has anywhere to move once they sell. There’s just not enough inventory for all the people coming here.

One of the things that needed to happen and that we are finally beginning to see is a big increase in the amount of new listings coming to the market.

In fact, new listings for February were up 40 to 60% across the metroplex. That is a huge jump!

But, again, that’s off of anemic levels when you’re comparing to last year. But still, that’s the type of increase we needed to see to help people get moving.

We had been seeing 10% increases – and that’s in a good case scenario – on number of new listings. So, to see that 40% to 60% increase tells me that inventory is really starting to come to the market in a big way.

What Does More Listings Mean?

Prices are going to have to adjust, too.

And as a result, people are going to be able to buy and sell more freely, and the market will not be as frozen if this continues. So, it’s going to be very interesting next month to observe and to find out whether there will be another month over month increase of new listings hitting the market.

As a real estate firm, here in our offices, we have seen more listings coming in than we’ve ever seen coming to the market.

That shift of getting back to normal is what I believe is about to happen here.

People get tired of sitting and waiting.

What Does This Have to Do with Interest Rates & Mortgage Rates?

We’re discontent by nature, but we’re starting to get used to the “new new” interest rates. Right now, that looks like interest rates that are bouncing up and down a little bit between 6.5 to 7%.

I haven’t seen anything below 6.5% for a long time.

And ultimately, prices have to adjust and everybody’s going to get used to it.

We want new things, we want to make moves (for various reasons), and change is just in our DNA. So, that’s what we’re beginning to see in the market.

People are tired of sitting and waiting, so they’re making their move.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this market update. If you have any questions, concerns on the real estate market, would like a complimentary home valuation or help setting up your home search, please reach out. We would love to serve you.